"Developer evangelist" offended by developer, tweets outrage, both are fired.

An incident at the annual Python developer conference has led to allegations of sexism, death threats, the firings of two people, and—apparently—multiple DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks.

The strange saga began Sunday at the PyCon event in Santa Clara, CA, when Adria Richards, a developer evangelist for e-mail vendor SendGrid, overheard jokes being told by two developers sitting behind her during a session. The jokes were sexual in nature, she said. Richards proceeded to take a picture of the developers, then tweeted the photo and asked PyCon organizers to have a word with them.

The story ended with one of the developers getting fired, Richards getting fired, and an apparent denial of service attack against Richard's personal blog and against SendGrid. "Anonymous has reviewed the situation and rendered judgment using their collective wisdom and experience," wrote one anonymous poster in a manifesto. Could the story get any stranger?

Richards did not tell the developers that she was offended, saying in the comments on her blog post, "I didn't want to be heckled or have my experience denied." She initially decided to remain silent about the jokes, she wrote, until she saw up on the main stage a photo "of a little girl who had been in the Young Coders workshop." At that moment, "I realized I had to do something or she would never have the chance to learn and love programming because the ass clowns behind me would make it impossible for her to do so," she wrote.

After tweeting the pictures of the developers, she then wrote on Twitter, "Can someone talk to these guys about their conduct? I'm in lightning talks, top right near stage, 10 rows back #pycon." She also linked to PyCon's code of conduct, which says in part that "offensive jokes are not appropriate for PyCon." On her blog, Richards concluded, "Yesterday the future of programming was on the line and I made myself heard."

PyCon staff quickly spoke to the developers, who apologized, but the staff took no further action. PyCon described its response in a blog post yesterday:

On Sunday March 17th an incident occurred involving some inappropriate comments made during a crowded plenary session. Per the stated guidelines for attendees and staff, the issue was reported to the PyCon 2013 staff and resolved privately.

Both parties were met with, in private. The comments that were made were in poor taste, and individuals involved agreed, apologized, and no further actions were taken by the staff of PyCon 2013. No individuals were removed from the conference, no sanctions were levied.

PyCon values the privacy of all attendees above everything. Except in cases wherein law enforcement must or could be involved, all reports and actions taken are kept confidential by PyCon staff.

After the incident, PyCon updated its "Attendee Procedure for Handling Harassment" to encourage conference attendees to report such behavior privately. "Public shaming can be counter-productive to building a strong community. PyCon does not condone nor participate in such actions out of respect," the updated PyCon procedures say.

One of the developers was also fired by his employer, PlayHaven, which said the inappropriate comments were contrary to the company's dedication to gender equality. PlayHaven makes a financial platform for monetizing mobile games.

“Forking” and firings

A person going under the Hacker News name "mr-hank" claimed that he was the developer who was fired. He apologized for the jokes but said Richards misinterpreted the "forking" statement. The developers were discussing the process of forking code bases, not making sexual jokes, he said. "While I did make a big dongle joke about a fictional piece [of] hardware that identified as male, no sexual jokes were made about forking," he wrote, adding:

She gave me no warning, she smiled while she snapped the pic and sealed my fate. Let this serve as a message to everyone, our actions and words, big or small, can have a serious impact. I will be at pycon 2014, I will joke and socialize with everyone but I will also be mindful of my audience, accidental or otherwise. Again, I apologize.

The other developer making jokes, Alex Reid, was not fired.

PlayHaven CEO Andy Yang acknowledged firing the developer, writing, "PlayHaven had an employee who was identified as making inappropriate comments at PyCon, and as a company that is dedicated to gender equality and values honorable behavior, we conducted a thorough investigation. The result of this investigation led to the unfortunate outcome of having to let this employee go. We value and protect the privacy of our employees, both past and present, and we will not comment on all the factors that contributed to our parting ways... We believe in the importance of discussing sensitive topics such as gender and conduct and we hope to move forward with a civil dialogue based on the facts."

Richards' own blog was subsequently hit by a DDoS attack. VentureBeat also reports that Richards has been the target of rape and death threats on Twitter, although such tweets have apparently been deleted by Twitter.

The SendGrid website has also been unresponsive much of the day. The company has not confirmed the cause, although it's assumed to be a DDoS attack. (Hacktivist group Anonymous is supposedly behind it.) "Our SMTP and Web servers are currently down," SendGrid wrote in a status update. A few hours later, the company provided some good news: "We're now accepting mail via SMTP & Web API. The Website is up, and we're working to finalize this resolution." Business customers have complained about the outage impacting their operations.

Today, SendGrid fired Richards. In a Facebook post, SendGrid wrote, "Effective immediately, SendGrid has terminated the employment of Adria Richards. While we generally are sensitive and confidential with respect to employee matters, the situation has taken on a public nature. We have taken action that we believe is in the overall best interests of SendGrid, its employees, and our customers."

A further post from SendGrid CEO Jim Franklin a few hours later expanded on the company's reasons for firing Richards. "SendGrid supports the right to report inappropriate behavior, whenever and wherever it occurs," Franklin wrote. "What we do not support was how she reported the conduct. Her decision to tweet the comments and photographs of the people who made the comments crossed the line. Publicly shaming the offenders—and bystanders—was not the appropriate way to handle the situation.

"A SendGrid developer evangelist’s responsibility is to build and strengthen our Developer Community across the globe. In light of the events over the last 48+ hours, it has become obvious that her actions have strongly divided the same community she was supposed to unite. As a result, she can no longer be effective in her role at SendGrid."

Update: The original version of this story said Adria Richards found out about her firing on Facebook and left a comment on her employer's page threatening a lawsuit. It now appears that comment was written by an impostor, and not by the real Adria Richards.

550 Reader Comments

And, as per the above point, it was not a private conversation, because it was in a public environment, where they acted as professionals, as representatives of their company, and as sponsors of the convention.

I guess next time you argue with your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner/spouse in public, you won't mind if some stranger eavesdrop and then barges in to take sides.

2) The convention had actual rules against this kind of behavior. So yes, I'd say it is her, or the convention's duty to ensure those rules are enforced. And, as per the above point, it was not a private conversation, because it was in a public environment, where they acted as professionals, as representatives of their company, and as sponsors of the convention.

If you're going to live in a glass house, don't throw stones. You probably also shouldn't complain about dick jokes when you're tweeting that you're playing Cards Against Humanityat the very same conference. She has nothing to defend herself with, she's complaining about inappropriate speech whispered in a crowd while she's publicly making dick jokes for 10,000 people to see, and playing a game with things far worse than a dongle joke in it. Hypocrisy is a word she doesn't know, and like most people getting indignant about something it's entirely misplaced and hypocritical. Now that she's getting legitimate criticism, she's tossed in the race card trying to get mileage out of that. The rape and death threats against her are terrible, absolutely disgusting, but she's got no moral superiority on either of them, especially when all of her transgression were made on a public website with her employer written in plain English right there for all to see.

I saw a Dear Abby mail exactly like this the other day, some woman is walking down a public sidewalk and happens to walk up behind two guys being two load, rude college guys talking to each other about crude things and wants to know if they should be reported for sexual harassment.

I don't like this juvenile shit either but you either live in the real world or you don't get gender equality.

Two people talking to each other while watching a presentation is not completely private, but it's also far from public. It's much less public than, for example, Adria's own sexualized penis jokes that she made on Twitter; such jokes are broadcast to the world, rather than those merely within earshot. For her to simply dismiss any criticism about said comment as "straight white male privilege" is absurd; her joke wasn't contingent on the (real or perceived) power advantage held by men.

This. There are lots of environments that are both public and private. What are restaurants? Parks? What would you think if someone at the table next to you at a restaurant got offended at a joke you told your date and butted into the conversation? What would you do if someone at the table next to you in a restaurant told an immature joke loudly in a relatively quiet restaurant?

There's a lot of this story that we don't know (at least as far as I can tell from what I've read). To me, it makes a pretty big difference if this guy made a dongle joke into a silent crowd in a pause in the speaker's monologue, or if he made it quietly to his friend from work who was sitting next to him while the entire crowd was buzzing with loud conversation before the presentation started.

In my estimation, if it was a joke between two people that she had to strain to hear, she's really making an effort to be offended (and her line about "the future of programming" seems to back that up.

This is what happens when we treat everyone like their opinion matters--we get narcissistic zealots on a rampage to stamp out whatever they're against, with the power to actually do so via throwing a fit, because (some) companies kowtow to those fits to avoid appearing insensitive.

No. I think it is more a matter of how her conduct was entirely unladylike. She simply didn't handle it well by the standards of earlier generations. That's not to say that our forebears would have tolerated the situation. They just would have been more discrete about it and operated with more decorum. The first option attempted would not have been the nuclear one.

She wanted the guys behind her to act like gentleman and failed to act like a lady. She also chose to act like a victim and use that as an excuse for taking the most extreme actions she could think of.

Reading her blog post from the article link, the following stuck out to me:

Adria Richards wrote:

Three things came to me: act, speak and confront in the moment.

She appears to have ignored the "speak and confront" portion of her own advice. She chose to take the low road and make a huge deal out the situation by contacting conference officials.

If she had practiced what she's preaching, the whole situation would have easily blown over if she had just turned around and said, "Hey guys, would you mind cutting out the perverted jokes, please? It's not appropriate, and I'm offended."

If they're like most people, they would have been embarrassed, apologized, and the situation would have been over. If they chose to be jerks about it, her further actions could have been reasonably justified.

Yes. That is a tweet. Made by her, in her own name, on her personal Twitter account.

By personal Twitter account, I'm sure you meant work Twitter account, right?"Richards herself apparently made a joke about male genitalia on Twitter, using her work account, several days before PyCon."

Is it me or is there a higher proportion of people who tend to be uptight in the US?

If I came across this situation I would either giggle inwardly and think what a typical idiot or roll my eyes.

If they kept it up and the noise was disturbing me I'd turn around and tell them to shut up, but I don't know anyone, even the most strongly feminist, religious or morally conservative who would embark on a campaign to publically humiliate someone for messing around in an overheard private conversation.

If the comments were made during a public speech or in a meeting or something like that they would probably complain to the organizers and then if nothing was done about it they might then take it public and complain but that would be a very extreme case.

A single, not that bad, undirected comment should not result in a firing....

These guys should have been talked to. That's it. If this was a repeat thing with them, okay, then go ahead and fire away...

The fact that she made a dick joke in public as well (yes on twitter, so it wasn't as distracting...) just makes her a hypocrite and drama queen.

Agreed. what a lame girl to get so bent about any type of humor assicoated with IT related things. I mean how many Floppy Discs jokes did we all make back in the day. "Oh yours is a 5 & 1/4'' floppy, so sorry. " She is so messed up for snapping a pic too.. grr

2) The convention had actual rules against this kind of behavior. So yes, I'd say it is her, or the convention's duty to ensure those rules are enforced. And, as per the above point, it was not a private conversation, because it was in a public environment, where they acted as professionals, as representatives of their company, and as sponsors of the convention.

Yes. That is a tweet. Made by her, in her own name, on her personal Twitter account.

The Twitter account she also uses professional, that describes her job title, and that links to her employer. She was representing her company every time she used that Twitter account.

Quote:

That's not hypocrisy. It would be hypocrisy if she said "thou shalt NEVER joke about sex", but she didn't. It's almost cute. You think you're so clever, that you've uncovered some big flaw in her argument. What you've discovered *is* her argument. That argument is, essentially, "there is a time and a place".

Yes; the time and place is apparently "whatever Adria arbitrarily decides is acceptable".

And, as per the above point, it was not a private conversation, because it was in a public environment, where they acted as professionals, as representatives of their company, and as sponsors of the convention.

I guess next time you argue with your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner/spouse in public, you won't mind if some stranger eavesdrop and then barges in to take sides.

After all, it's happening in a public enviroment.

You logic is not quite on target. There is a difference in your example and the conference. I've been to my share, mostly as a representative of my company. And I am EXPECTED by my company, and the hosts of the conference, to maintain a professional behavior. This is where the differences lies and your logic fails. At conferences such as these, there is a expectation that the attendees maintain a professional behavior. It usually stated by the attendees employers, and by the guidelines of the hosts.

If I'm in the middle of the mall, that expectation is quite different. Also, in this instance, i'm generally not going to get into that kind of argument in public. But if I did, I would not have an expectation of privacy.

No one is saying "sexual jokes are by definition bad and unacceptable". Richards certainly isn't.She *is*, however, saying that maybe making those kinds of jokes at a conference whose aim it is to be inclusive, while you are there representing your employer who happens to be a sponsor of the conference, *especially* not while a speaker at the conference is talking about how to make a programming career more appealing to children and young girls in particular.

Yes, clearly the way to make programming a career more appealing to anyone is to make sure that no one is allowed to be casual with other people unless they want their reputations trashed and job put in jeopardy. Glad we got that cleared up.

Making genitalia jokes in public is never appropriate. Publicly humiliating someone instead of talking to them personally and then complaining about being fired without someone talking to you personally also seems inappropriate. Hopefully both of them will learn something from this.

Get real. Where did anyone say anything about genitalia? In a situation like this, it was incumbent upon the recipient to understand the inference. Which the eavesdropper obviously did.

Firing someone over this is so knee-jerk / over-the-top 'politically correct' I want to gag.

I don't believe the conversation was longer than a few seconds. How many dongle jokes can one really make?

People can make one uncomfortable in many ways; most often while being perfectly politically correct. We all have different life situations and experiences, and feel hurt from different things. We can't always blame others for not feeling our pain.

I agree with that as well. I don't personally "get" why the offense was taken in the first place but without knowing this woman or her life experiences I also can't say that she was in the wrong for feeling offended or put out by what she overheard.

Taking it for granted that she was genuinely uncomfortable with what she was hearing (which I contend one can reasonably be from a variety of public conversations) I am merely suggesting that the next logical step was to request that the conversation be stopped.

Are you being facetious or trolling? You do know that there is nothing private about a joke made in a public venue with others in very close proximity don't you?

If they wanted it private, they should have actually gone someplace private.

I am sincere. The fact that she was in proximity and could hear them is irrelevant. They weren't talking to her, or about her. She should have minded her business, like everyone else likely did.

So by your logic, it's safe to do this at your place of employment?

Good luck with that.

Where did you come up with that? That would be stupid and naive. Look where Richards ended by standing for her principles.

Only anonymity can ensure that we avoid persecution for our ideas.

I came up with that because as someone who has attended many conferences, usually sent by my employer, I am expected to be professional AS IF I WERE AT WORK. I have to dress the same, I have to act the same. You logic is, that the if conversation, held in a professional forum, didn't concern her, then she needed to butt out. This would essentially be no different than applying the same logic to your place of employment.

If your company is sending you to a conference, you represent them at that conference.Irresponsible behavior when acting as a company's representative can get you fired.Dragging your employer into a public debate of Dongle size is a career move, but not a good one.

It looks to me as if at least three people learned this lesson at the conference, but very few have in these comments.

Thirty years ago IT was a good old boys playground that had a bullet proof glass ceiling. I expected some of the boys who have not grown up to bring up that she had less to lose as no one pays women as much as men. They certainly brought up that 'she should have known her place' as a second class citizen.

And yet, I cannot see any good done by making the names public. (without names, it would have been an object lesson in how far we have to go toward equality)

In the end it is Adria Richards will be the one who loses the most. The developer absolutely has grounds to sue Playhaven. He will probably get his job back, or at least get a settlement. Other companies will be extremely leery of hiring Richards on the other hand, however.It was sad how it played out actually, and I fully blame her for her "Joan of Arc" mentality for making a mountain of a molehill. Sexism is prevalent in the computer and IT industries, but behaviour like this exacerbates rather than solving the problem.

Were the alleged jokes adressed at her ? No...Were the alleged jokes about her or anyone particular ? Doesn't seem so...Were the alleged jokes uttered as part of a private conversation within a public space, or as part of a public conversation ? The former...

What was the thing to do if she was offended ? Complain to them about it... and if if proved unfruitful, then use other methods.

Would a male complaining about overhearing females making sexually charged jokes generate such a reaction ? Believe me, most women are making jokes as distasteful and sexists as men do, or maybe that's allowed, if it's them ? Well, I know for sure that complaining will get you yelling at for being some kind of pervert, listening on them... yeah right...

The guys may have been a bit too loud and distasteful; The "ass clown" in the story however, was neither of them.

What she did and how she casts herself as a white knight is pretty distasteful and makes her appear as quite an uninteresting and morally corrupt individual.

"Dongle"? That sounds more innocent than just about any other euphemism I have ever heard for the word "penis". For a second there, I thought PyCon was being hosted in Tulsa, Oklahoma this year. Then I realized that our "protest-just-about-anything" culture here may be getting out of hand.